Posts by GCNC8068

it's just a different flavor of bands having the "wall of Marshalls" behind them, with all or most of the cabs empty, and Champ or other small amp off stage providing their tone. Live performance is a show, and the backline and overall stage look is part of that show. If you went to see a rock band and the stage was empty except for the drums and the pedalboards (everyone using IEMs), a lot of folks would wonder what was going on (and you'd hear rumors of "backing tracks").

I think for most touring bands the keys are what sounds great, what's reliable, and what's easily serviceable or replaceable if something goes down. Hard to argue that carry 2 or even 3 Kempers is pretty easy and guarantees the same sound.

based on this ... what's the lifespan of that 2032? I'm wondering if a little preventative maintenance is in order (i'm going to be changing rack cases for the Kemper Rack soon, so while its "unracked" I'm thinking I might go ahead and change this battery now. I bought my Rack used in early 2020 ... I don't know exactly what year the Rack was made so the battery is at least probably 3 years old.

well -- just plugged in the new TRS cable and that was it. The older one looks perfect, so I'm going to check to see where it went south just so I can spot if there's some issue with how it's routed on the pedalboard.

no -- set to wah. here are the settings:

I'm running the current version of Profiler OS and Rig Manager. I'm using two Mission Expression pedals, one for dedicated wah and one for volume.

I have the wah connected to the Remote at pedals 5 & 6, using TRS cable for 5 and TS for 6 as the switch. I have a wah locked as Stomp A across all rigs.

This has worked great for a long time. Within the last week or two , however, the wah has lost its "sweep" function. It clicks on and off, and sounds like a "fixed wah" but it will not "sweep" when the expression pedal is moved heel to toe and back. The only change I can be sure of is upgrading the Profiler OS, but I'm not saying for sure that's it. I added some new rigs to a new performance for my 12 string, and did not "knowingly" do anything to the wah or pedal settings (but of course, can't rule out having done something stupid by accident).

I've tried both of my Mission Expression pedals with the same result - so that tells me the culprit is something in the Kemper. Both Mission pedals function properly when set as volume pedals, so the "sweep" is working. I've ordered a new TRS cable just to rule that out. I've also review the manual regarding wah set up procedures, and watched several YouTube videos regarding same. Nothing is jumping out at me as an obvious point of error -- which means I'm clearly missing something.

Anyone have ideas? Also, I had thought backing up the Rig Manager backed up the Profiler as well, but apparently not (I was going to load a prior Profiler backup to see if that fixed the issue). I'm not sure how one backs up the Profiler and then restores a backup ... figured Rig Manager did that but it doesn't seem so.

Thanks for any thoughts,

Greg

With the Kemper's extraordinary capbilities, it's easy to drift into FOMO - fear of missing out. As in, "there's probably an EVEN BETTER rig among the thousands and thousands out there." Ditto all the effects.

I use mine for "live" work only, no recording. That means practice, band rehearsal, and gigs. I started out by first thinking of what small number of amps I would go get if money were no object, based on the stuff I play. That ended up being a couple Marshalls (plexi, 800, etc.), a fender deluxe reverb, a vox, and some Dr. Z's (since I own several of those). Then I looked at a limited number of profiler company's offerings based on reviews I've read. Bought a few based on reviews and online samples (ended up with Michael Britt and Rick Beato being my two faves).

Then I created performances with those amps - focusing on a very good clean tone, an "edge of breakup" tone, a very crunchy tone, and then a couple lead tones. I did this for my single coil guitars and separate ones for humbuckers.

Then I added effects as indicated above -- only added what I needed, not any "gee whiz" stuff. So locked in a wah for all, some compression, reverb, delay, chorus for the clean tones, some boost and delay, and the odd phaser, for the lead tones. With that, I've ended up with 4 or 5 performances that I can easily navigate depending on the guitar and what I'm playing, and it covers 99% of everything I need to do. Then I can focus on practice.

From time to time, I sit down and just experiment, but that's when I'm specifically in the mood to see what the Kemper can do. I don't let that interfere with practice. There I play with new rigs, new effects, etc. Mainly to to learn more about how the Kemper works and what i can do.

And I backup like crazy via Rig Manager so I don't lose anything or can restore if I accidentally overwrite something (which has happened too many times).

Any of these devices can be 1,000 mile deep rabbit holes. You have to approach them with a clear idea of what you want, and push back against that FOMO feeling. Oh, and I'm 100% in the camp the believes most of your tone is in your fingers -- there's no rig on earth that will make me sound like EVH no matter how good I am. I will always sound like me. So my expectations of profiles is somewhat tempered - I look for them to sound like the amp, not the artist, because I'm not going to sound the artist no matter what.

All my $0.02

Quote from skoczy

Desire is a root cause of all suffering in this life. Good musicians know, that they only need to have skills to play which they develop by constant work, and they need pure joy out of playing. Life worth living is more about feeling than having.

and yet Keef has over 1,000 guitars. 😁

I’m using a Fryette PS-2 with an unpowered Rack and it sounds great to my ears. I run to a celestion f12-x200 in a thiele cab for monitor and also direct to FOH. The PS-2 uses 6L6s, but I’m never at a monitor volume to push those hard at all. I don’t notice them coloring the Kemper’s sound at the level I’m running, but of course everyone’s ears are different. I already had the Fryette from using it with my tube amps - if I hadn’t I would have likely found a good solid state amp that was lighter (or maybe would have bought a powered Rack).

Quote from Ruefus

I have a slightly different view. The kit guitar and the 2 by 4 didn’t sound significantly different for me to say ‘maple this, rosewood that’.

They influence, of course…..but if your pickups are crap (or just the wrong ones), none of the other stuff is going to ‘fix’ that. Certainly not for the effort required vs changing pickups.

At the end of the day, without a double-blind test it's purely a personal matter as to what features of a guitar affect tone and are "best" for a given purpose. Likely the reason you rarely see double-blind tests. I think Kemper generated the most blind tests when it launched -- I've never seen so many videos trying to figure out "is it Kemper, or is it a tube amp"

Quote from Burkhard

This is what the Rig Manager 3.2.57 notes say:

KEMPER Rig Manager™ allows you to preview and manage your collection of PROFILER™ Rigs, Performances, and presets.
This version of Rig Manager should be used in combination with PROFILER OS 8.6 or higher.

The current OS 8.6.6 is a 8.6 by the way.

Rig Manager 3.2.57 and OS 8.6.6 are the current compatible release revisions. Many thousand users have performed this update and are using this combination successfully. There is no generic issue for RM 3.2.57 updating from OS 8.5.6 to 8.6.6.

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Thanks for that update. I believe what happened for me was that when I launched Rig Manager, it said it needed to update to 3.2.57, so I did. I did not realize the Profiler OS needed to be updated to 8.6 FIRST -- BEFORE doing the RM update. So I ended up with RM at 3.2.57 but Profiler OS only at 8.5.6, not the required 8.6. RM apparently doesn't check Profiler OS when RM updates itself.

Certainly reviewing the release notes is important, however when you get an update notice it's a bit human nature to tell it to go ahead. It would be a good feature if RM did a check of the Profiler version installed before it updates so RM doesn't update itself to a version not compatible with what's on the Profiler.

thanks, but it seem Rig Manager would not update my Profiler OS. It said it could not install and that I needed OS 8.6 to update. I have 8.5.6 on my Profiler, and Rig Manager 3.2.57.

Rig manager has worked to upgrade itself and my Profiler in the past. Not sure why this one was problematic.

so, USB install worked. It's always unclear the dance steps to upgrade Rig Manager before or after a Profiler update. Sometimes it says you must upgrade RM first ... in this case, I guess not.

so my rig manager is saying I need Profiler OS 8.6 to update ... where can I get v8.6? I went to the Kemper download page and all that is there is 8.6.6 (which won't update my 8.5.6). The "older" version option doesn't show 8.6. I'm lost, and now Rig Manager (which updated to 3.2.57 won't work with my Profiler).

I'm having same issue. Rig Manager 3.2.57, OS X 11.6, current Profiler 8.5.6.30271

there's about zero info from these guys on this other than 2 YT vid's showing "clean" and "dirty" tones. I'd be interested in how they pack tubes into the relatively small cavity of the toaster and provide cooling. I'm not as offended by running the Kemper through a tube -- I do that now using a Fryette Powerstation (2x6L6). I'm assuming the Le Roux uses EL84 for 15w -- those would also run relatively cool at that power. Whether cool enough is a question.

I put an F12 in a 1x12 Thiele cab (http://www.trmguitarcabs.com/ported-cabs.html) and it sounds very good. Excellent bass without boomy, and a nice top end.

I've got my rack in a 6u SKB (SKB 1SKB-R6S), shallow depth. I've got a Furman, then the Kemper Rack, then a Fryette Powerstation. I got a BTPA rear panel to easily connect at the gig, and the shallow version of this rack is just a tad too shallow to be "perfect" -- it would be better with a little more depth. But, it does work well and BTPA panel is great for fast and easy connections (that you easily see).

Quote from Yzman82

Now if I decided to stay with kemper brand, being a Canadian I can expect to pay more for future products for no explainable reason. I know shipping is more but and I understand those extra costs but I’m not paying more because they decided to charge us more than other countries. I see a small markup on other brands but this is to much for me. I want to clarify I am not bashing kemper products though they are certainly good.

could there be a different Canadian import tariff on the powered cab because it's got electronics in it? or it's in some funky category of goods with a higher import tariff?

I had what sounds like a similar issue using a Mission pedal. No matter what wah setting I used (bypass at heel, bypass at toe, bypass at stop) it would happen ... very random. Could not cause it to happen. I changed cables, tighten the Mission pedal to be sure vibration wasn't causing it.

What fixed it was connecting the toe switch on the Mission to the remote. Now it have to step down to activate the wah (pretty much the way you would with "real" wah pedals). Haven't had the issue since.

I could see Kemper consider bifurcating the market, with one future KPA focused more on the recording market and another more focused on live performance (or amp replacement, if you will). After 50 years of lugging amps around, dealing with the complexity of multi-amp rigs and switching and mic'g, the Kemper is a God send for me. I don't record - it's all for live use. It allows me to have every tone I need, easily feeds FOH, and let's me have a great monitor. All in a small, easily transported package. So, to me, it doesn't need all the goodies that make it a great recording device because I just don't need that. Sort of how they made the Stage as an option to the Toaster and the Rack.